Human Shield
by Plasma Snow
Summary: Based on the Whumptober prompt 'Human Shield'. October 4th, Human Shield. Hiccup and Astrid are on a patrol to make sure hunters aren't near Dragon's Edge. When an arrow begin flying towards Astrid's chest, Hiccup pulls her his way mid-air and is impaled himself, the arrow going through his left leg. Will he survive?


**(A/N) Please keep in mind that these Whumptober prompts-though they are a bit short-will turn into multi chapter stories at a later date with a better summary. Right now I'm just working on the one-shots.**

October 4th-Human shield

Astrid and Hiccup had decided to patrol together when suddenly a hunter ship attacked. Bolas were fired and both Toothless and Stormfly screeched in alarm. Hiccup and Astrid were both thrown from the saddles and sent flying through the air when Toothless was hit.

An arrow zimmed through the air, heading strait for Astrid's chest. Hiccup grabbed her hands as they were still falling, yanking him towards her and protecting her with his thin form.

A shout of pain escaped his chapped lips when the arrow pierced his left leg just above the place where the prosthetic connected to human flesh. Little blood flowed, meaning that the arrow was at least cutting off blood flow. The bad thing was though that the arrow had chipped bone and tore the flesh of his knee, making it impossible to move his leg without extreme pain.

Hiccup and Astrid both hit the deck _hard. _Astrid saw the condition Hiccup was in as the shock began wearing off. He'd protected her, now she had to protect him.

Toothless hit the deck soon after Hiccup and Astrid did. Stormfly hadn't been able to catch her rider because she'd instinctively gone for Toothless who was closer to her. Unfortunately he was far too heavy and she couldn't catch him at the speed they were falling.

One sniff and Stormfly caught the scent of Hiccup's blood. She shook her head to recover from a slight daze and saw Astrid raising her ax ready. It was one against three, five men holding down Toothless, and two approaching Hiccup cautiously for fear of his dragon who thrashed in worry nearby.

Deciding to go for the injured one first, Stormfly grabbed Hiccup in her mouth and threw him onto her back. Despite the numbness induced by pure pain in his leg, Hiccup was able to grip her saddle firmly with his hands, laying on his stomach so he didn't fall off. Every flap of the dragon's wings sent pain through his body from the waist down, but he couldn't focus on that now.

He needed to save Astrid and his dragon.

"Down there girl!" Hiccup shouted over his dragon's worried roars. "Blast the arrows! We'll grab Astrid and cut Toothless free."

Stormfly did as she was told. Astrid hung from her dragon's legs with practiced ease, using her ax mid air to cut enough of Toothless' bindings so the Night Fury could free himself and shoot every hunter on that ship to unconsciousness.

She knew he'd killed at least two.

"We're going to get you home. Just...hold on." Astrid told Hiccup who was in her arms. She slid from Stormfly to Toothless by their wings so she could fly the Night Fury and lead her own dragon with hand signals.

Upon arriving at the edge Astrid had Fishlegs come into Hiccup's hut to help her. The Haddock boy was still conscious but hardly moving.

"Hold him steady Fishlegs. I can remove the arrow but…"

Fishlegs nodded in understanding, not needing anymore information. He pressed down on Hiccup's shoulders, effectively holding the boy in place. Astrid moved over so she could sit on Hiccup's right leg and held the left on in her hands. She had Fishlegs place a piece of leather in Hiccup's mouth who immediately bit down.

"Just do it." Hiccup rasped out, eyes still closed and voice muffled by the leather. Astrid nodded and took his command, using a hot knife to cut his pant leg off. She then proceeded to remove the arrow with the same knife, not removing the prosthetic until Hiccup's wound had pressure on it to stop the bleeding. She used a needle and wire to add in thick stitches, only four of them being needed.

All the while Hiccup had lost himself. His head thrashed from side to side and his breathing came out in heavy pants. He groaned in pain though managed not to scream in front of his friends. Sweat beaded his forehead and his right leg was constantly moving under Astrid in an attempt to escape. He was glad his long time crush was so strong, else he would've probably injured himself further by moving his left leg while she was cutting the arrow free.

Fishlegs let go of Hiccup's shoulders but Astrid continued holding his legs still until she was sure he wasn't going to accidentally kick his stitches with his right foot. She too got up after a minute and moved up the bed to brush the hair from her long time crush's sweat covered forehead.

Fishlegs left so Astrid and Toothless could have some alone time with Hiccup. The Night Fury was still sore from his fall and in a bit of a mild long-lasting daze. At least there were no visible injuries.

"It wasn't that bad." Hiccup mumbled when he saw Astrid frowning worriedly at him. She smiled warmly at his words and brought her right hand up to cup his cheek. Hiccup lifted his weak left arm up to hold her there. They stayed like that for a moment before Astrid finally spoke up.

"I would've died if it wasn't for you. That arrow was heading straight for my chest." She paused for a moment as she studied Hiccup's nervous features at her words.

"You were quite literally my own human shield. What made you do it for me Hiccup? You could've died."

Hiccup waved her off, sweat still dripping down his cheeks and chin do to the pain he tried to hide. His left leg was giving him these weird twisting and throbbing sensations, like he didn't have control of the limb anymore. He also had chills.

"And you _would've _died Astrid. I couldn't let that happen." As an after thought…

"I _need _you. We all need each other. That's just the way it is."

Astrid smiled at his words and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear nervously. Why was she nervous? Because these new emotions she was feeling were so foreign and...weird.

Without even thinking Astrid leaned down to kiss Hiccup's forehead comfortingly. She lingered there for a moment, closing her eyes as he did the same. When she pulled away he was blushing, though she managed to keep her features composed.

"I'm going to get you some water and see if Fishlegs has something for pain. Stormfly will come get me if you need anything. Try to keep your leg propped up while I'm gone."

Before Hiccup could say a word-not that he could anyways because of his love induced haze-Astrid was out the door without looking back, leaving Stormfly to stand guard.

Knowing his own dragon was sleeping off his soreness and confusion, Hiccup turned to Stormfly for help.

"What just happened Stormfly?"

The Deadly Nadder only squawked loudly, ruffled her wings, and plopped onto the ground to sleep for a little while with her tail acting as a pillow for her head. Hiccup chuckled lightly, leaning back and trying to breath through a sudden bout of pain until it went away.

If _that _would be the reward he got every time-Astrid being so affectionate towards him-Hiccup would jump in the way of a flying arrow _any _day.


End file.
